Agassi leaves SAP to save the world

by Andrew James

Shai Agassi, the heir-apparent to Henning Kagermann as CEO of SAP, has resigned from the software maker. The president of SAP's product and technology group is leaving the ERP giant in order to tackle climate and global energy issues.

SAP Chairman Hasso Plattner told a press conference that he believed Agassi's departure had more to do with the boards decision to extend current CEO Kagermann's contract to 2009 than it did from Oracle's impending lawsuit against SAP or the companies poor fiscal results in 2006.

Plattner told the conference:

"What happened is I shared my plan with Shai that he should become co-CEO with [Leo] Apotheker [president of SAP's Global Customer Solutions & Operations] … When I asked Henning if he could stay until mid-2009—we will launch a new product—Henning agreed. It became apparent to Shai that he was not comfortable committing a long-term, 10 - or 15-year period to SAP and responded that I should not consider him for the co-CEO or CEO position."

Plattner went on to say that Agassi's departure would have no impact on the development and future release of SAP products including A1S, a new midmarket software suite due for release this year.